Where to start!! First of all, let me tell you something which matters a lot in our day-to-day life and helps us leading a beautiful and healthy life. Though I am not old enough to make you realize these things. But if you will think it in a proper way, you might understand how helpful these things are....

The art of wise living involves four steps: Plan purposefully, prepare prayerfully, proceed positively and pursue persistently. The joy of wise living involves the art of joyous looking. There are two types of looking. You can look at the world with thoughts; you can also look at the world without thoughts. When you look at the world with thoughts, then you should be aware of the subtle pollution that exists. Thoughts come from memory, memory is the representation of an experience of the past, and so from the past you see the present. Hence, pollution happens.

Is it not natural that we look at the world through these thoughts? If the answer is 'yes', then the possibility of a higher perception does not exist. Ordinarily, you look through thoughts. However, there is an extraordinary way of looking at life. Have you not observed many physically challenged people doing extraordinary things in life?

Mental setbacks are harder to cope with than the physical, because it makes people ineffective. They operate from the ''I can't'' rather than ''I can''. They operate from scarcity rather than abundance. They are rooted in poverty consciousness rather than in prosperity consciousness. We have to learn the art of coming from abundance rather than from scarcity. Creativity happens in this space. Effective people learn to reduce stress, increase happiness and increase potential. There is external and internal stress.

External stress involves your eating habits, pollution and erratic sleeping habits. Internal stress involves attitudes, beliefs, dogmas and negative patterns. One has to learn the art of handling them from a spiritual perspective. Meditation is a great way of making this happen. What do people really want in life? Most of us are like a ship in the ocean without a compass. What we want is success and satisfaction.

Reflect on the following exchange between a traveller and a tourist guide: Traveller: ''What will be the weather at this point?'' Guide: ''The weather is going to be the weather that I like.'' Traveller: ''How can you get a weather you like?'' Guide: ''I don't always get the weather I like. Therefore, I learn to like what I get. So I get a weather that I like.''

The art of getting what I like and liking what I get - this, one should cultivate through spiritual practice.

Most of us are searching for happiness. We search for happiness in the world of objects and things. However, we fail to appreciate that the world of objects can give us pleasure but not happiness. People don't see this distinction; hence they suffer in life.

Happiness really exists within. The art of going within is one of the arts we have to learn. Once we discover the art of being happy within, then we will participate in the miracle called life. Have you seen the beauty of the sunrise? Very few people experience the ecstasy of the sunrise. We live in a beautiful world, but we still continue to live in small ponds of misery. Even when we are pulled out of the ponds of misery, we continue to be in our own misery, for each one is identified with his or her own misery. Once we learn the art of disassociating ourselves from the idea of misery, we will see so much of joy around us. We will participate in the sun rising, the sun setting, we will participate in the twinkling of stars and the moving clouds. The whole world will become a source of joy.

Let us focus on an another major issue....

Most of us experience anger in some form or other almost every day. Anger is a negative emotion; it can cause violence, it can ruin relationships, it can lead to serious illnesses and it is known to kill. Yet, few make the effort to try and overcome this emotion. So anger continues to affect millions worldwide.

As children, we are taught to contain anger. An angry child is asked to be quiet. This is the conventional approach. As a result, the anger is suppressed. When we are angry and we try to appear as though we are not, we are in effect masking the emotion. Children throw tantrums - an expression of anger - and get rid of the discomfort. Grown-ups on the other hand end up bottling it within. So the negativity gets buried deeper and deeper into the unconscious. Expression and suppression of anger, in the final analysis, are both injurious to health - to the individual, as well as to the community. Many of us are edgy and nervous, and could explode at the slightest pro-vocation. This could eventually lead to a nervous breakdown.

Anger impacts our body in several ways. Angry people are more likely to suffer from high blood pressure, hypertension and cardiac diseases. Very hostile persons are especially susceptible to life-threatening stress-related disorders. Negative emotions like anger tend to release harmful toxins in the body. Angry outbursts lead to chain reactions. Angry reactions help perpetuate violence.

It is important to first admit the fact to ourselves that yes, we do lose our temper now and then, especially when under stress. That is the first step to help us overcome the emotion. After an angry outburst, we either regret it or try and justify it. Strangely, though, most of us somehow manage to rein in the urge to express anger when we know it could lead to a disastrous situation like losing a job, relative or friend. Whether we are angry with someone or someone is angry with us, each outburst takes its toll on both parties. Recently, metros have witnessed the horrors of road rage, where stress and vexation have led to violence and even killings.

Once Buddha was sitting on the bank of a river and a man came and spat at him. Enraged, Buddha'sdisciples sought his permission to punish the insolent intruder. Gently wiping his face the Buddha thanked the man for giving him the opportunity to test if anger could overpower him. Buddha requested him to come again whenever he had an urge to spit.

Buddha's response shook the offender. He had acted deliberately to outrage the Buddha and had failed. The Enlightened One's calm face and compassionate eyes haunted him. Unable to forgive himself, early next morning the man fell at the Buddha'sfeet and cried for forgiveness. Pointing to the flowing water Buddha asked him to forget it, as it was past. To be a Buddha means to be in a state of awareness. True to his name, he did not react. The visitor realised Buddha was a normal man and no avatar, who had meditated for several years to transcend the ego and had attained a realised state. Tears rolled down his eyes and he was transformed. We can derive inspiration from this story to try and overcome anger.